A woman accused of swinging a meat cleaver at her neighbors in the middle of the night made a first appearance in Clark County Superior Court.
Qui Thi Phan, 56, appeared Monday on suspicion of two counts of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon. Court records indicate that she required a Vietnamese interpreter.
Vancouver police were dispatched at about 2:35 a.m. Saturday to the 3200 block of M Street for a reported assault. Jacqueline Montgomery and her boyfriend David Wilkch told police that their neighbor, identified as Phan, came after them with a meat cleaver, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Wilkch saw Phan standing in the road near 33rd and M streets. He said he and other neighbors have had problems in the past with Phan throwing items at their houses in the night, the affidavit states.
Wilkch approached Phan and told her to go home, he said, however, Phan pulled out the meat cleaver and began swinging it at him, court records said. Wilkch ran away.
Montgomery said she was standing near Phan’s residence and heard Wilkch yell “knife!” Phan then came to the front of her residence through the alley between L and M streets and allegedly swung the cleaver at Montgomery, according to court documents.
Montgomery said she turned to run away but fell to the ground and cut her right leg. Phan then went back inside her residence, the affidavit said.
Police obtained a search warrant and took Phan into custody. She allegedly admitted to swinging a meat cleaver at her neighbors and said she did it because she was afraid and believed that “she was instructed by her church to cut the trees,” court records state.
During her hearing, Judge David Gregerson set Phan’s bail at $7,500. She will be arraigned Dec. 2.
